130 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
Source and Origin of all existence." The various theories and schemes of reconci- 
liation of various writers are then reviewed, and tlie meanings of the terms 
creation, days, earth, in the senses used are duly weighed ; but after a careful com- 
parative analysis of the interpretations and modes of reconciliation as yet proposed, 
with the concurrent geological facts, the author concludes that we nmst " regard 
all attempts at the discoveiy of an adequate theory of reconciliation for the present 
hopeless, and especially he regards as a barrier to an immediate settlement of a 
satisfactory solution, the admitted ignorance of geologists as to the precise state 
of the earth, immediately before the present creation. In leaving the subject tims 
open, Mr. Gloag takes good gimmd in the expressed conviction that both the 
geological facts, when fidly demonstrated, and the scriptural declarations, when 
properly interpreted, are founded on tratli, and cannot possibly contradict each 
other. "We need lie under no apiirehension," he properly says, "that true 
science shall ever he opposed to revelation. The Word of God is not contradicted, 
but illustrated by his works. This has ever been the case in past ages ; and this 
will ever be the case in ages to come. Scripture does not shrink from the strictest 
scrutiny, nor is it at all afraid that any discovery of science shall either weaken its 
evidence or contradict its statements." 
The author then passes on to reflections on the existence of death before sin, 
the scientific view of the Deluge and the scriptural statements in reference to it, 
and then devotes the remaining portion of his eloquent little book to the illustra- 
tion of the Divine benevolence as disjilayed in the pages of geological history. 
We rejoice in the production of such inexpensive works, when characterised by 
the information and candour so especially marked in this, and we heartily wish 
"The Primeval World" an extended circulation, from the belief that its pages 
will nowhere be perased without pleasure, and by no one without advantage. 
Mr. Pattison's is a still smaller book than the one we have just reviewed, 
but it is by no means its inferior in diction or matter, and is characterised by a 
peculiar poetical vein of witing. The author tells us that it is not another 
attempt to construct a scheme of reconciliation which shall satisfy all parties, nor 
a new theory of interpretation either of the earth or the Word of God ; l)ut an 
endeavour to consider both records together with equal reverence as being of equal 
authority. "Undoubtedly," he says in the Preface, "the minds of many good 
men are uneasy at the suspicion of a conflict between the testimonies, just as on 
the eve of an important trial the young advocate is distressed by the prospect of 
contrary evidence equally credible. But in both cases the open examination 
removes, one by one, all the apparent discrepancies, and truth comes out all the 
more illustrious for the clouds which beset its course." 
Mr. Pattison opens his book in an easy flowing style, which is maintained 
throughout. " From some eminence, ascended in the course of our autumnal 
ramble, we see the green earth sjjread out before us as a map. Its aspect, colour, 
composition, and arrangement, suggest design ; we ask, was it made for us ? — by 
whom ? — and when ? Memory brings to our recollection the offerings made by 
'mother earth' to our material well-being, and we readily conclude, that the 
requirements of man had something to do with its origin and plan. The shrewdest 
observers and most profound thinkers in all ages, who have investigated the con- 
dition of the earth, nave arrived at the universal conclusion that ' the hand that 
made it is divine.' From the deepest mines and loftiest mountains, from primeval 
rocks and alluvial plains, from liquid ocean and ambient air, the testimony springs 
up, ' In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth.' " 
From the cosmogony of the subject the author proceeds to a brief review of the 
succession of strata fonning the earth's crust, with the remains of former creations 
entombed in them, and the value of those mineral masses to the necessities and 
uses of mankind. The arrangement of the rock-masses is then more minutely 
dwelt upon, with a view to show " the one property which belongs to all the varie- 
ties of material, namely, utdity to man. As civilisation advances, one and 
another instance of tliis is discovered, and brought into practical demand in the 
common life of the world's population. We daily avail ourselves, in a thousand 
ways, of the vast stores of mineral matter laid up and prepared for this end 
amidst the slow processes of anterior time." 
